


(Is it) Desire?

by The_Readers_Muse



Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV), The 100 (TV), The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Multiple Partners, Orgy, Partner Swapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-06-05 04:21:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6688972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Readers_Muse/pseuds/The_Readers_Muse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The mechanics of how it happened wasn't the point.</p><p>It was the reality they were stuck with that mattered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own The 100 or Fear the Walking Dead. Everything belongs to whoever owns them, my wishful thinking aside.
> 
> Authors Note #1: a tumblr anon asked for a Fear the Walking Dead/The 100 crossover so here we are. Prompt: “Okay so this might be too hokey but would you consider a Travis/Madison (do they have a ship name yet idk?) /Caryl/Kabby orgy crack!fic where they trade off partners and it's gr8.”
> 
> Warnings: crossover, orgy, sex, partner sharing, sexual content, canon typical violence, emotional hurt/comfort.

The mechanics of how it happened wasn't the point.

It was the reality they were stuck with that mattered.

It had been three months since the breach. The moment when the air in front of them had fractured, warping around the edges before flaring suddenly outwards. Swallowing everyone but him and Madison in a blinding flash of light. Leaving them alone on the pier like the others had never been there at all.

Chris was gone.

Nick was gone.

Alicia was gone.

Daniel, Ofelia, Alex, Jake, Strand.

_Everyone was just gone._

And left in their place were strangers. A man and woman in dark clothes like uniforms who looked around like they'd never seen San Diego before. Like they'd never seen a tractor trailer or a city. The clothes they were wearing. The burned out harbor. The infected. None of it.

As it turned out, they had good reason.

But at the time, it hadn't mattered.

Their children had been taken and there had been an unfamiliar animal slavering under his skin. It has been a downward slide after that. When Madison crumpled across the concrete like all the air had been taken out of her, salting the ground with tears that turned the air close – too close. Pulse pounding in his ears as the two strangers had tried one language, unfamiliar and garbled, not like anything he'd ever heard, before switching to another. English, more or less. Placating despite the gun held loosely, solider-ready in the man's hands and the crackling radio clipped on the woman's worn leather belt.

His right fist had only been hungry for blood after that.

* * *

It wasn't until later that he decided it was to Marcus' credit that he never hit him back.

* * *

The learning curve had still been steep on both sides after they'd gotten over the hard part. But they managed it. Together. Even if the idea of alternative universes and possible time travel was a harder pill to swallow than he thought considering what their world was now. Not to mention what he'd seen happen with his own eyes.

In the end they had to trust that Marcus and Abby's people were working on it. Because hell if they could do anything from this end. Even if things weren't in the middle of crashing down around them, he had a sneaking suspicion they would have all been chucked into the hospital for a mandatory psych-eval if they'd been caught looking for even half the stuff Abby figured they'd need just to get started. The other half, he was pretty sure, didn't exist yet.

_Talk about a mind job._

They found a place in an apartment on the lower floor of a burned out high rise with an open deck and a cast bronze fire pit Abby and Madison found still in its box underneath a stack of deck chairs and a collapsible umbrella. Choosing to stick as close to the dock where it happened as they could. Ready to move at a moment's notice. Hiding from the infected and only going out when they needed supplies. On edge was an understatement no matter how many times Marcus and Abby assured them that they'd been safe in their camp when the distortion hit. Meaning that was probably where the others had been taken if they were right about having switched places.

It was barely more than survival mode, but it was the best they could do.

And as the days passed, they slowly started to navigate a new normal.

Marcus and Abby told them about their Earth. About the Ark and the war and the people – the Grounders - who'd somehow survived on Earth. Making a new civilization out of the ashes of the old. Abby told them about her daughter in exchange for stories about Chris, Nick and Alicia. They told them about their people. About how some things were exactly the same and others completely different.

He started staying up at night, talking quietly with Marcus over mugs of fire-steamed tea while Madison and Abby were sleeping. Wondering aloud what it said about humanity when in two different versions, two separate realities, mankind had managed to destroy itself.

_Because that was the thing, wasn't it?_

_This infection?_

_It wasn't natural._

_It wasn't what George had_

_It was man-made._

_It had to be._

"Things will never be the same, will it?" he asked one night. Looking off over the ruined skyline as the soft glow of the suburbs, still slowly burning, haloed a half-arc around them for as far as the eye could see. When he closed his eyes he could still see it burning, distant and orange against his tired lids. He thought about L.A. About how there was probably nothing left. How Madison's house, the school, their neighbourhood, even the home his son had grown up in had probably burned along with it.

"No," Marcus replied simply, coming to stand beside him. Looking out at the city for a long moment before looking up. The sky speckled with unfamiliar stars and the lingering smog of a dying city. "But it isn't the end. It might look like it - feel like it. But's not. It's just harder."

The man blew out a long breath when he made no move to reply. Running a hand through his hair as the sleeves of his shirt – a dead man's shirt, forest green and undone at the cuffs – rucked up. Revealing strong forearms and pink branded scar he hadn't found the words to ask about yet.

"When the war made the Earth uninhabitable and our ancestors fled to the Ark, it was supposed to be our last stand. _Mankind's last stand_. It was the only place we could go. The only way we thought humanity could survive. Life on the surface was supposed to be impossible. The idea was that we would wait it out and hope the world would heal itself. But even then, there was no guarantee that when the Ark finally failed, there would be anything on Earth to come back to. But we were wrong. There was still hope – _there was always hope_ – both on the Ark and on the surface. It was just different than we thought it would be."

He was still trying to imagine it, living your entire life in space. Looking down at the Earth, wondering. _Waiting_. Marcus and Abby had already told them about the food shortages and the lack of medical supplies. About the one child law and the Draconian style law they'd lived under and enforced in turn.

It was alien. Recognizable, but impossible. Like Alice peering through the looking glass. He could picture it, but there was nothing honest or tactile about it. Probably just about as impossible as the kids trying to explain a virus that kills you, then brings you back wrong and hungry, to Marcus' people.

Perspective was still everything, he supposed.

"I'm not saying things will ever be back to the way they were, because they won't. If things get better, _when they get better_ , it will be hard," Marcus amended, firming up against the railing until they were brushing shoulders. Feeling the warmth of the action collect across the high of his cheeks when neither of them made a move to regain the space they'd lost.

"I'm not even saying things will get easier – they probably won't, not for a long time. Or that you won't lose more people, but- we can come back. All of us can come back. It's never as easy as a downward slope, Travis. Trust me, I know."

* * *

He kept his own company after that. Thinking about what Marcus had said as he watched the sky change colors long after the man bid him goodnight and went back inside.

Still, when Maddie came out and wrapped her arms around him from behind. Resting her chin in the crook where neck met shoulder, the smile that threatened to split across his cracked lips felt a whole lot like the words Abby and Marcus hadn't been able to find when they told them about the first time their feet had touched the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

He didn't know what made them do it. What Madison was thinking when she rolled on top of him in the middle of the night a few weeks later. Swallowing the soft sound of surprise when he woke up to her hands wandering. Pulling up his shirt and skimming her nails down his sides as the room's natural rhythm hiccuped into the dead city hush.

There were words.

Things he could have said.

Things he could have reminded her of.

But all that was lost when she shifted on top of him, freeing him from his shorts as she wrapped her hand around his cock and stroked him firm. Pace easy and unhurried despite how quickly he rose to the challenge. Hips hitching up – needy and almost suffocating – as he reached up and cupped her breast through her shirt. Rolling her nipple under the pad of his thumb, just how she liked, as he fought the urge to take it further. Wanting to bring her down for a kiss even as his heart thudded painfully in his chest. Tense with the need to keep quiet as Abby and Marcus slept soundly – fingers ghosting each other's jacket cuffs - on the other side of the fire.

_If they were quick, maybe-_

Everything about it was organic when he urged her to lean over him – full breasts dragging heavy over his skin - and pulled off her shirt. For a staggering moment, everything was perfect. Just like it used to be when the world hadn't been so sharp and they'd had their own bed and a door that locked.

He shuddered, full-bodied and trembling when she caught his cock by the base and pressed him up against her entrance. His pants and boxers were barely down to mid-thigh, trapping his range of movement as the pale blue bunch of her underwear slid abandoned down the side of his hip. Crumpling across the floor and into a patch of coal-light like a white flag standing for normalcy everywhere.

_God, he wasn't going to be able to-_

He didn't realize Abby and Marcus were awake until he turned his head - eyes half closed with the punched out pleasure of it as she lifted her hips and started to move - and found them watching. Creating a strange dissonance between pleasure and childish terror at getting caught as Madison tipped back – taking him deep - spine arcing like a bow as his nails scrabbled across her hips in momentary indecision.

_Jesus._

The blunt of his fingers pressed into her hips like individual brakes as Marcus and Abby's eyes only glittered back – alive with uncertain interest. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. Stuttering a bit as Madison melted across his chest and turned to look, sleepily unconcerned. Caught fast in the warm, familiar clutch of her as she squeezed around him playfully.

This time it made him groan out loud. Unable to keep quiet now that their secret was out. His hips worked up into her minutely, like if he didn't make a show of it, they wouldn't notice. But of course, across the fire, the tangle of sleeping bags rustled. Watching the shadows flicker and shift until Abby and Marcus where sitting upright – anticipatory and sleep-warm.

He sensed more than saw the glide of a tongue sweeping across Abby's lower lip. Head tipping up like she was looking up at Marcus for a long moment before the man inclined his head. The moment filtered nostalgic and dark as the coals shifted, sending a spit of sparks skyward.

"In our world – _our Earth_ ," Abby started, voice sleep-rough and hesitant. Like this was just as new to them, just as precious, learning to navigate this new twist right along with them in real time. "One of the things we learned the hard way was that there has to be more. _More than just surviving_. You need to be able to live, to take chances, even make mistakes. It's what makes the rest worth the risk."

He let himself look - really look - as the words grew stale in the air. Not sure what it meant when he found Marcus' eyes staring right back, careful but unashamed in his interest when they found each other in the dark.

He couldn't help it.

His hips rolled up.

Making a show of it - _a statement -_ as Maddie expelled a shattered breath. Squeezing around him once, then twice as he bottomed out, urging him to back up with the flat of his palms splayed wide over the hook of her hips. But he never took his eyes off the hungry glint that was burning in the back of Marcus' eyes. Throat heavy with it when Abby leaned over and tipped his chin down for a lingering kiss.

He almost laughed. Because despite the lingering afterimage of Liza sprawled in the sand that was burned into his eyelids, he was trying not to be the kind of man that cried. Swallowing that dishonesty _downdowndown_ as a suspicious sting started welling up in the corners of his eyes. Recognizing the kiss and the ones that followed for exactly what they were.

They were a memo to the universe.

A silent scream that said, we have this too.

What you have, we do too.

We're the same.

We exist.

_We love._

Neither of them said a word, but the truth of it was deafening – _rebounding_.

Somewhere in the interim, Marcus and Abby had gotten slowly to their feet. Bridging the gap with small, swaying steps but leaving the final say up to them as he floundered in the echoes of what wasn't being said. Of what they were about to do. What-

His fingers reached out across the thick, ash-strewn carpet towards them.

_Spreading._

_Straining._

_Silent._

And for some reason that was what broke it. Because whatever decision had been simmering in the back of Maddy's eyes resolved itself and suddenly she had Abby and Marcus' hands in hers. Pulling them in and down beside them while he was still inside her. Kissing Abby slow as she leaned back - making him groan - rocking back and forth on top of him. Taking both their weight as Abby slithered over his legs and ran her fingers through Maddy's hair like an introduction.

Marcus was more cautious, following Abby's lead but still meaning it when he settled a hand on his shoulder, heavy and warm in the relative darkness. Refusing to get lost as they anchored themselves to each other in inches.

"Is this alright?" Marcus whispered into his lips, kissing gently at first like he was unsure of his welcome, before catching his lower lip between his teeth and pulling gently.

"Yes," he breathed, not knowing he'd wanted anything so much until that very second as something in him sparked bold and he found himself sitting up. Curling his hand around the back of Marcus' neck so he could keep him close. Tongues brushing, hesitant and earthy, before pulling back to share the same air - panting harshly. _"God, yes."_

His nervous system tripped as he watched Maddy and Abby kiss. Arousal ramping up another impossible notch as he hiked himself back into the clutch of her. Hyper-aware of the way their lips came back glossed in the low light – wet and shiny.

He wanted to touch. To brush his thumb over Maddy's clit until she came. Anything to make up for how he was getting distracted. But his hands were already full. _Wandering_.

There were hands on his chest, dipping downward. _Abby's. Marcus'. Maddy's._ Stroking through the trimmed coarse of his pubic hair to linger where the slick of his shaft disappeared into her wet heat. He groaned, his hips driving up, chasing and electric as the hands teased and stroked.

He jerked when soft, dry hands stroked down his perineum.

Letting go of a soft, wet sound in the back of his throat as he swallowed through it.

_He'd never, not-_

The soft creases around Marcus' eyes were a landscape. A polite minefield where a single frown or hitch of hesitation would have had him freezing in his tracks when he got over himself enough to return the favor. Scratching the blunt of his nails down Marcus' chest when he shrugged out his shirt. Following the smattering of dark hair downwards before resting the heat of his palm over the bulge in the man's shorts. Finding common ground in the cotton-dry of the material against his hands and the firm throb of his cock underneath.

But Marcus didn't do anything. He didn't pull away. Instead, he just smiled. Heated and almost feral-low in the dark, before he moved into the press, demanding more. Crowding in until the muscles in Madison's thighs trembled and suddenly she was pulling off, giving him an apologetic little squeeze as she and Abby curled up together beside them.

Marcus took her place above him like breathing. Strong arms braced on either side as he leaned down for a sharp little sting of a kiss. Head tipping back with pleasure when their cocks brushed, flirting with the beginning of a grind as Marcus let his weight settle on top of him. Easing them into a rhythm as his dick blurted wetly across the damp cotton of Marcus' briefs.

_And he just took it._

Realizing that want and need were the same god damned creature as his lower lip split between his teeth. Looking up at Marcus' expression as everything he was feeling reflected back at him. That he'd honestly never expected to find himself here, in this moment, with the taste of another man on his lips and the weight of a cock pressing against his – thrusting and full. That he'd never expected another woman's hands running down his sides, threading through his hair. But it was happening and it was okay. Good even. _Needed_. Something that existed beyond the layman's definition. Making any attempt to paint it look paltry and cheap.

_It was-_

"Travis…"

Abby and Madison were curled up together beside them – watching. Skimming bare toes over his and Marcus' calves as they touched each other. Fingers glistening with each other's want as his name left Maddy's throat in a husky murmur.

He found her eyes in the dark.

Asking silently, just like he was.

_Was this okay?_

_Were they okay?_

_Would they be okay?_

He knew the answer already.

But he had to ask, all the same. Communicating consent and eagerness until the moment lapsed and he watched Abby curl up and into her. Reaching down so that they moved together. Fingers knowing just where to touch as they gasped into each other's mouths.

His hands smoothed valleys down the star-studded plane of Marcus' skin. Learning him in the dark as he plucked pointedly at the elastic of his underwear. Wanting them off as Marcus cursed, tipping dangerously to port as he tried to kick them off without separating. It didn't quite work, with one of the man's knees pinching against the inner of his thigh, but eventually they managed it.

_This time there was no hesitation._

_No doubt._

_No trying to tell himself he didn't need this._

_That this wasn't him._

Instead he surged up, eager to reward Marcus' efforts with a kiss he surprised himself by turning bruising. High on the tickling scratch of the man's stubble rasping across his skin. He seized in place, one hand tangled in the man's hair while Marcus trailed blunt teeth down the pale of his throat. Making his toes curl with over-stimulation until his hips arced up. Chasing friction as Marcus hissed his name between groans. Digging his nails into the meat of his shoulders as a thin trail of pre-cum drooled down his thigh.

He needed.

So he took.

He managed to lever Marcus up enough to gentle his fist loosely around the man's cock. Free hand curling into his forearm like a warning as he caught Marcus' mouth with his. Exchanging the sleepy-stale that so often came part and parcel with late nights and the wet glide of interest as Marcus hitched into it. Muscles straining.

"Dammit- _Travis_ , just-"

Marcus' hand joined his without waiting for an answer. Stroking them together – faster and rhythm choppy as sparks went off behind his lids. Feeling tight with it as the air sank like lead weights in his lungs. Feeling every inch of it when the calloused rough of Marcus' hands caught against his own. Tracing across his crown as pre-cum eased the way – his, Marcus', it didn't matter whose it was anymore – until Marcus' fingers twisted just right and-

Oh.

_Oh god._

He came to the feeling of another man's hand firm around his cock. Feeling the flaring echoes of breathless laughter on the air as Maddy and Abby moved in close, easing him through the start of his own fall as Marcus' hand tightened around his, rhythm stuttering into nothing as he set his teeth into the muscle of the man's arm and flooded their hands with cum. Making the final few glides slick and almost tortuously good as Marcus smothered his moan with a kiss and followed him.

* * *

It wasn't until later, when his eyelids were courting sleep and the others were curled around him, already there, that he let himself own it. Basking in the over-warm heat as they held his beating heart against their skin. Chests rising and falling as they crowded close. Throat tight with the realization that it wasn't Liza's ghost that was haunting his mind's eye anymore.

_He was alive._

_They were alive._

_All of them._

And for the first time, that seemed more like a blessing than a curse.


End file.
